And the Trees Crept In(54)

I can’t look at him. I can’t stay. He’s been lying.

He sees my thoughts on my face. “Silla?”

“Stay away.”

He sits up, panic in his eyes. “Whoa, what’s going on?”

“You never have any mold on you.…”

“What?”

I swallow. Calm. But I back away from him. “Nori and I both had this green mold growing on us from the house. It’s like it was infected and getting us sick, too. But you… you never did. You never look less than perfect.”

“Silla…”

“The curse never touched you.” Away. I back away.

“It’s not what you think.”

“Who are you? Why are you here?” [LIAR. HE’S A LIAR.]

“Silla, calm down.”

“Tell the truth! Why did you come to La Baume that day?” [RUN! RUN AWAY!]

“I told you—”

“You told me you lived here once. But you’re hiding something.”

He hesitates.

“No lies! Tell me the truth!”

“Okay. Yes, I’ve not told you everything about myself, about… but I care about you. I love you.”

“You’re him. You’re him.…”

He looks scared now. “Silla—”

“Oh God. You are.”

“Don’t do this. Let me come with you. Let me help.”

“Get away. Get away from me.” [YOU FOOL. YOU FOOL!]

“Please, wait—”

I turn and I run, and though I can hear him scrambling up and getting dressed, hear him calling my name, panic lacing his words, I can’t stay.

I run faster.

I am a fool.

I am a fool alone.





23


fool, alone



Alone you must be

to find your reprieve

bet you can’t wait

is it too late?



I run because I can’t do anything else. The trees fly past, flashes of the fading wallpaper of this accursed La Baume winking at me in between, but I grit my teeth and push on.

How could I have been so blind? How could I have missed it? Not to have seen his link to this… this, whatever it is.

Gowan is the Creeper Man. He tricked me. All this time, he was just watching me. Gauging my reactions—torturing me.

Nori, Nori, Nori. It is a chant to the beat of my heart and I don’t falter because Gowan could be behind me—the Creeper Man could be behind me. But then where is Nori? Where did he put Nori? [YOU ARE BIG SISTER.]

Her name floods my mind all at once. [YOU LET HER GO.] And I lose my footing and trip over crooked roots (or vines) and crash violently into the earth. Or is it a dusty hardwood floor? I don’t know.

I lie there for a moment, defeated.

I am fading away into a half sleep, washed over with despair and unbearable hunger when I hear a lilting tinkling through the trees like a ribbon of sound.

Nori’s bell.

“Good girl!” I whisper, scrambling to my feet. “Keep ringing it.…”

And I follow the eerie tinkling between the trees, letting my ears lead me.

I’m coming, Nori. I’m coming.

I hear Gowan’s cries echoing as they drift through the eerily still trees.

Ssssiiilllaaa.

Ssssiiilllaaaa!





I walk.

How can it have changed so fast? How can this be happening? I think back to every Japanese horror film I have ever seen. Am I dreaming? And I remember that particularly weird South Korean film, Hansel and Gretel, the way this mysterious door leads them into another place entirely. Is that what’s happened here? [LSD? WHAT IS REALITY?]

I walk.

I feel as if the real world, the world where I lived, was normal 3-D and I was blissfully unaware of the dangers of reality. But now I’m somehow in a 63-D world and it’s full of all these terrible things I can’t understand. This is the ground-floor corridor of La Baume, but it is also Python Wood. But a really weird Python Wood because there is no noise. It is silent. And, also, none of the leaves are moving because there is no wind because we are INSIDE.

I walk.

“This is mad. Utterly mad. I am crazy. I have to be.”

I walk.

“What if he’s taken her to eat her or—” I shake my head. “Blah, blah, blah.”

I walk.





I’m aware of everything. Each sound is an attack. A possible enemy. I flinch often, but don’t laugh a breathless chuckle when I know no danger is present. Why, I wonder, have I become this bird, this mouse, this flea? When did that happen?

I hate myself.

The word slaps me, hard, out of nowhere.

hate

And I know, in the moment I think it, that it’s true.

I hate myself.

Why?





24


obscurantism



Follow me here, follow me there,

Creeper Man comes to give you a scare

send him away, think you can?

foolish children call on Creeper Man.





BROKEN BOOK ENTRY


This one time, Dad gave us permission to make Halloween costumes. It was a total surprise because it was the first Halloween he’d ever allowed us to have. We had no means of buying costumes, of course, so we enlisted the help of Mam. She had amazing sewing skills. I was a Jedi warrior, and Nori was Yoda. It was the best night of our lives, and nothing could top that. Nothing.